Skip to site navigation Skip to main content
main content
  1. Home
  2. Marketplace
  3. Sports
  4. Sports memorabilia
  5. Wrestling

This listing closed and did not sell. The item has been relisted.

Other listings you might like

Description

"I'm the man of the hour," Superstar Billy Graham told his audiences, "the man with the power. Too sweet to be sour!"

Despite years of devastating health issues (a long history of drug abuse led to a liver transplant in 2002), the man regarded as one of the most influential professional wrestlers of the past thirty years still flaunts the same optimism that made his interviews as compelling as his matches. In Tangled Ropes, his autobiography, Graham remembers his victories -- and his setbacks -- on both the wrestling and the evangelism circuits in vibrant detail.

At his core, Graham is still Wayne Coleman, the artistic, curious boy who escaped the wrath of his disabled father in post-war Phoenix through painting, sports, and bodybuilding.

Because of his natural athleticism, Wayne held a series of jobs -- from bouncer to boxer, from repo man to football player. However, it was under the training of the "Mentor of Mayhem," Stu Hart, that the wrestler was revealed. Then the fading headliner Dr. Jerry Graham bleached Wayne's hair blond and transformed him into an in-ring "brother." Still reverent of men of faith, Coleman became "Billy Graham," after the preacher. Graham completed the package with his golden tan and enormous "pythons," a succession of color-coordinated outfits and jive-talking -- a persona imitated by countless wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

The Superstar's greatest wrestling achievement came in 1977, when he took the World Wide Wrestling Federation Championship from Bruno Sammartino. He held the prize for nearly a year -- the first wrestling villain to do so. But after he lost the title to wholesome Bob Backlund, Graham fell into a deep depression. He disappeared from the business, squandering his money and losing himself in a haze of drugs.

In Tangled Ropes -- co-written with Keith Elliot Greenberg -- Superstar Billy Graham tells a story that transcends his life in the wrestling profession, offering candor, nostalgia, inspiration, and humor.

Details

Condition:
Used

Shipping & pick-up options

Destination & description Price
Courier NZ Wide $5.00

Seller does not allow pick-ups

Payment Options

Pay Now logo
Pay Now by credit card

Pay Now, Cash, NZ Bank Deposit

Questions & Answers

No questions have been asked!

Tangled Ropes - Superstar Billy Graham

Closing...

Starting price

$6.00

No reserve

No bids

Shipping Shipping from $5.00
Buyer Protection covers you up to $2,500 on this item when you pay with Ping or Afterpay if your item doesn't show up or isn't as described.
georgep31 profile image
georgep31 99.5% positive feedback Seller located in Waitakere, Auckland
Advertisement

About the seller

georgep31

99.5% positive feedback
address verified in trade top seller
Location
Waitakere
Member since
Sunday, 24 July 2005
View seller's other listings

Tangled Ropes - Superstar Billy Graham

New Welcome to the new-look Trade Me
Learn more